The southern winds bringing warm weather to much of Michigan this week are bringing along spring songbirds, too.
According to data from the website BirdCast, more than 200 million migratory birds are predicted to be on the move overnight across the U.S. for the next several nights. Many of those birds will be flying north along the Mississippi Flyway, a major migration corridor where Michigan is a critical stop.
Species now and soon appearing in Michigan thanks to these southern winds include many types of warblers, orioles, flycatchers, tanagers, and sparrows, among others.
“Winds from the south give them a boost,” said Juliet Berger, president of the Washtenaw Audubon Society and ornithologist for the City of Ann Arbor’s Natural Area Preservation. “They ride the winds so they don’t have to fly as hard.”
Migration data showed that 44.7 million birds were on the move in the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 27. | Image by BirdCast.info. Used with permission
BirdCast uses weather surveillance radar to predict and track seasonal bird migrations, producing migration forecast maps as well as real-time analysis maps that show the intensities of actual nocturnal bird migration.
Many birders use BirdCast’s maps to help guide their birdwatching during spring migration, the annual event during which millions of birds make their way back from southern wintering grounds in Central and South America and the southern U.S. to their more northern summer breeding sites, including in Michigan and beyond.
While fall bird migration numbers are actually much larger, because the birds heading south are also joined by their summer broods, foliage during that time of year can make the birds more challenging to see. That’s why spring migration, which happens before many trees and bushes have leafed out for the summer, is such a popular time of year for birdwatching in Michigan.
According to Berger, this week will be a particularly great time to break out the binoculars. Not only are the south winds bringing new birds to Michigan, toward the end of the week those winds will shift and start coming from the north — likely causing many of those just-arrived birds to stick around for a day or two, instead of quickly passing through, giving you more time to spot them.
In addition to the BirdCast maps, you can use the website eBird.org to find out what birds are being reported at birding hotspots near you. Learn more about BirdCast at birdcast.info.
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